Test interpretation: A data-based approach using two tests of morphosyntactic skills

Abstract

This study evaluated empirically the Test for Examining Expressive Morphology and the Patterned Elicitation Syntax Test with Morphophonemic Analysis to determine their capacity to aid in answering the following diagnostic questions: (1) "Is there a language impairment" and (2) "What are the specific areas of deficit?" For the first question, a discriminant analysis using 40 preschool children (20 with specific language impairment (SLI), and 20 with normally developing language) revealed 90% sensitivity and 95% specificity for each test. For the second question, an item analysis revealed inconsistent pass/fail rates and low point-to-point agreement for SLI children's performance on items targeting the same morphosyntactic structure across tests. Given their high discriminant capacity, but inconsistent item-level performance, both tests proved appropriate diagnostic tools for question 1 but inappropriate for question 2.